Recycle those Christmas trees

Sunday

Dec 23, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Paul Rogers ROOTS OF WISDOM

Your Christmas tree has another life ahead of it. Given our current stage of awareness, there is no need to send your tree to a landfill. Whether your live cut tree is to remain indoors for only a few days after the holidays or remain indoors until Twelfth night, the tree has several helpful roles to play on your property.

Winter weather can cause havoc in perennial gardens. In particular, cycles of freezing and thawing soil break shallow plant roots and heave plant crowns up out of the ground. Such plants are subject to the full extent of cold, drying winter winds. Yet the use of heavy mulches such as leaves or wood chips can provide hiding places for moles, voles and mice to feed on plant roots.

What is needed is a light, fluffy, semi-open-textured protection of the perennials. The best winter mulch is snow. However, we have no guarantees that snow will consistently be present and remain in place for the next 60 days.

In particular, you should be aware that it is the late winter period from about the last week in February to the first two weeks in March when the greatest winter damage occurs. It is then that the drying sun is at its strongest and plants are coming out of dormancy. They lose a degree of winter dormancy protection.

Lop off the Christmas tree branches (your own and any others that you can collect) and lay them over perennial plants, bow side up, not more than two branches thick. Interestingly you are not trying to maintain warmth in the soil but rather trying to keep the ground cold. Thus, a light covering breaks the force of the wind and sun on plants without holding in moisture that can lead to plant rot.

Especially tender perennials are best protected by the use of a thin layer of salt marsh hay not more than two strands deep. If the site is particularly windy, lay a single evergreen bough over the salt marsh hay to hold it in place. Perennial plants like Dianthus (carnation) are quite subject to stem rot caused by excessive quantities of winter moisture.

If the branches removed from the Christmas tree are allowed to retain 2 or 3 inches of stem on the tree trunk, the tree will serve as an excellent support for climbing plants in the summer garden. If you have been able to collect three or more discarded trees, teepees can be installed for sweet peas, ornamental beans and numerous other plants. Vertical gardens will be all the rage in 2013, as they make economical use of garden space while introducing a design element into both vegetable and ornamental gardens.

For those gardeners who have made the switch to artificial Christmas trees, all is not lost, as millions of live trees will soon be set out at curbside for pick-up. In many parts of the world there is a growing awareness that waste does not exist — just a lack of imagination as to the value in recycling of discarded materials. Enjoy your Christmas tree, then grant it an extended life in your summer garden.